O-I Australia seeking interest from glass recyclers to supply new glass cullet optical sorting plant in South East Queensland; plant to open in early 2015, will recover recycled glass for use at O-I's glass container manufacturing plant in Brisbane

Elyse Blye

BRISBANE, Australia , June 30, 2014 (press release) – O-I Australia is seeking interest from glass recyclers in Queensland and Northern New South Wales to supply a new state-of-the-art glass cullet optical sorting plant in South East Queensland.

The high-capacity cullet optical sorting plant set to open in early 2015 will recover large volumes of recycled glass for use at O-I’s glass container manufacturing plant in Brisbane.

O-I Australia Director of Procurement, Gary Combes said the new facility will be capable of processing a significant volume of furnace ready cullet, far in excess of the current capabilities in Queensland.

“We believe this new optical sorting plant is the missing link in Queensland’s cullet processing infrastructure. The new plant will ensure all glass has an opportunity to be recovered through a closed-loop process and recycled into new glass containers – not down-cycled or sent to landfill,” he said.

Along with opening this opportunity to Material Recovery Facilities to make supply arrangements with O-I Australia directly to take in-feed glass, interest is also sought from smaller recyclers and regional centres interested in an economically viable option to recycle glass into a high-value use.

Glass is 100 per cent infinitely recyclable. Maximising the amount of recycled content in the glass making process creates a number environmental benefits:

• It reduces the amount of raw materials that must be extracted, transported and used in production;
• It reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill; and
• Due to a lower melting point, every 10 per cent of recycled glass used in production reduces carbon emissions by about five per cent and energy use in the process by around three per cent.

O-I Australia has a proud history of using recycled glass, in the last annual reporting period post-consumer cullet accounted for 37 per cent of the total glass tonnes packed.

Interested parties are invited to contact Regional Director Business Improvement, Craig Mynott on 08 7300 7750 or via email, craig.mynott@ap.o-i.com.

About O-I

Owens-Illinois, Inc. (NYSE: OI) is the world's largest glass container manufacturer and preferred partner for many of the world's leading food and beverage brands. The Company had revenues of $7.0 billion in 2013 and employs approximately 22,500 people at 77 plants in 21 countries. With global headquarters in Perrysburg, Ohio, USA, O-I delivers safe, sustainable, pure, iconic, brand-building glass packaging to a growing global marketplace.

O-I Australia is part of O-I’s Asia Pacific region. Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, the Asia Pacific operations encompasses eight plants across four countries - Australia, China, Indonesia and New Zealand. For more information, visit www.o-i.com.

O-I's Glass Is Life(TM) movement promotes the widespread benefits of glass packaging in key markets around the globe. Join us in the #chooseglass conversation at www.glassislife.com.

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.